Sinterklaas Was Coming To Town

Source: iAmsterdam

This Sunday, Sinterklaas (mind you, this is not a rip-off of Santa Claus, it's a genuine, different person) arrived in Holland, as he always does around this time of the season. This year, it was a little different though. If you live in the Netherlands, I'm sure you will have had your share in the discussion; if you don't, you may have heard about it on the news. Because for once, our little festival in the Netherlands was News with a captial N. But why?


Sinterklaas has been a tradition in our country for many years. The "goedheiligman" with his "zwarte pieten" comes to the Netherlands, brings joy and presents to the children across the land and departs again, just in time for Christmas. It's not the spoiling of kids or the environment-harming steamer he arrives on that caused the trouble: it's his helper, Zwarte Piet, or "Black Pete" as he's called in English. Some people, and their number is increasing every year, view Zwarte Piet as a symbol of racism and wish him gone from the tradition, or at least modified so that he doesn't have anything to do with racism any longer.

Children, of course, have no such view of Zwarte Piet. They see him is a funny, smart and skilful person, much more intelligent and witty than that old man on his horse. On top of that, the main event, Pakjesavond, gets in trouble every year (decipted by the Sinterklaasjournaal, which is a wonderful programme), and the Zwarte Pieten save the day, without Sinterklaas knowing a thing about it.

That's how it is now, but it hasn't always been like that. In the past, Zwarte Piet wasn't all that friendly. He was the one who took the naughty children back to Spain, in a gunny; he possessed a wooden stick to beat kids up with if they didn't behave. Doesn't sound too good, does it? As you can see, the tradition has changed quite a bit already. Zwarte Piet became a friend of the children, a merry person who hands out candy to everyone and climbs chimneys. He's a do-gooder, not a bogeyman.

Yet, I can see why people still think it's bad in some way, and as the tradition is somewhat based on racism, I can understand why they want that changed.  Problem is, these people are always adults. This festival is for children, and as I said before, they don't see a thing. They only get an idea of racism, once the adult society has put that in their innocent, sweet heads. On top of all, Zwarte Piet is a hero to them. I don't think he should be banned from the tradition, nor should his appearance change too drastically (the idea of coloured Petes is horrible), but why not make them a bit more smudgy black? That way, it really looks like they're black because of the chimney, and not because they resemble black slaves of a white man.

To conclude, I would like to say that I still believe in Sinterklaas, and I hope everyone will continue to do so. It's a wonderful tradition, in every form. Let's keep it that way.